Australian Targets

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Four days ago two intrepid climate change activists scaled one of the cooling towers at Yallourn coal fired power station in Victoria's La Trobe Valley. In the end they spent 30 hours on the cooling tower, the longest power station occupation of it's kind in Australia, finally coming down voluntarily to be arrested and charged with various offences.

The protest highlighted the enormous multi-million compensation being given by the Australian Government to power operators for the imposition of the carbon tax. The brown coal fired power stations in Victoria's La Trobe valley are some of the dirtiest most carbon emissions polluting power stations in Australia and the world.

Yallourn Power Station and it's associated brown coal mine have also been beset with problems this year with the major flooding of the mine which has reduced the operational capacity of the power station. The polluted water from the mine, filled with heavy metals such as mercury, lead, arsenic, and cadmium in suspension, is being pumped directly into the Latrobe River which flows directly into the Gippsland Lakes, an important wetlands area. The pollution impacts fishing, tourism and farming in the region, and the health of people in the area downstream of the mine.

"Yallourn is a dangerous relic that continually poses a threat to local communities and vital ecosystems in the region, whilst making a huge contribution to dangerous changes in our climate. All of this has not stopped the federal government from giving China Light and Power, the owner of Yallourn, $257 million in handouts this financial year dressed up as "compensation" for the carbon tax" said Quit Coal spokesperson and climber Chloe Aldenhoven according to Quit Coal

The action is the first major protest to challenge the 2009 amended critical infrastructure laws. According to Quit Coal, the activists were charged with "trespass on critical infrastructure, affixing objects to critical infrastructure and behaving in a reckless manner that could shutdown critical infrastructure."

The laws were amended by the Brumby Labor Government in an effort to deter protests concerned about catastrophic climate change and government inaction, from undertaking civil disobedience and direct action. Penalties include fines up to $45,000 plus imprisonment.

Caption: Protestors can be seen as a blue dot on the side of the cooling tower camped at sunset

State Energy and Resources Minister Michael O'Brien condemned the protestors in a statement, saying:

"These extremist groups have threatened the generation of electricity on a 35 degree day, when the demand for energy is typically high, and when all Victorians need a reliable supply of electricity," Mr O'Brien said.

"This sadly demonstrates the contempt that these groups hold for ordinary Victorian households, businesses and communities.

"This action is also incredibly dangerous for the protestors themselves, and this event will no doubt divert emergency services from other important duties.

"These extreme environmental groups have no respect for mainstream Victorians and we should not be surprised if Victorians have no respect for the views of these groups in the public debate on our energy future."

"These people are acting like dangerous fools. Their views will be dismissed accordingly," Mr O'Brien said.

The Minister was quick to label the activists as extremists, but videos released by the two activists reveals their serious concern with the impacts of climate change and the gross lack of action by the Government. Watch the video from youtube of Chloe explaining why she carried out the protest:

A video of Dom on youtube explaining his reasons for protesting is also available.

The recently released CEDEX report shows that electricity demand is falling and some of the generating capacity of the largest polluting coal power stations at Hazelwood, Yallourn and Morwell can be retired. Much more could be done with a pro-active Government encouraging wind farm development and large scalle solar power, as well as a more generous solar feed-in tariff again.

Twitter

About Me

Time to leap out of the slowly boiling pot of earth's warming climate
into action on climate mitigation and adaption.
I don't want my children to ask why I didn't act after reading the
scientific reports of climate risks. I write on the
effects of human induced climate change, sea level rise, ocean
acidification, biodiversity loss, environmental and social impacts of
global warming, and climate protests from a Melbourne Citizen
Journalist.

A member of environmental NGOs and community groups for 30 years in Australia, currently living in Melbourne. I have been a Citizen journalist for the Indymedia network in Australia and worldwide from 2000, as an editor and contributor with Australia Indymedia and the global features collective. Since 2013 I have contributed many stories to Margot Kingston's citizen journalism website: nofibs.com.au. (See my article archive) I also post photoessays to Flickr and videos to Youtube and edit wikipedia as user Tirin. My website is takver.com where I can be contacted through the feedback form, the most reliable way to contact me. I can also be contacted through facebook and on twitter as @takvera.